CN-121989584-A - Wheel device, vehicle having the same, and method of controlling the same

CN121989584ACN 121989584 ACN121989584 ACN 121989584ACN-121989584-A

Abstract

The invention relates to a wheel device, a vehicle having the wheel device, and a method of controlling the wheel device. The wheel assembly includes a wheel body, a cover member, and a transmission assembly. The wheel body has a plurality of spokes arranged at predetermined angular intervals with through-openings formed between the adjacent spokes through which air can pass, the cover member is rotatably covered on a side of the wheel body with respect to the wheel body about a rotation axis of the wheel body and is provided with at least one orifice area, and the transmission assembly is provided between the wheel body and the cover member and is configured to rotate the cover member with respect to the wheel body about the rotation axis of the wheel body when the rotation speed of the wheel body is greater than a predetermined threshold value, thereby causing the through-openings of the wheel body to be converted from an open state where there is overlap with the orifice area to a closed state where there is no overlap with the orifice area. The invention has the advantages of reducing air resistance, improving endurance mileage or fuel efficiency, improving cooling performance and braking performance and appearance design.

Inventors

LUO SIYANG
YUN LEI
GUO HONGFENG
JIN RONGCAI
LIN FENGXUE

Assignees

现代自动车株式会社
起亚株式会社

Dates

Publication Date: 20260508
Application Date: 20241105

Claims (13)

1. A wheel device, comprising: A wheel body having a plurality of spokes disposed at predetermined angular intervals, and through-openings between adjacent spokes through which air can pass; A cover element which covers the side of the wheel body rotatably about the rotation axis of the wheel body relative to the wheel body and has at least one aperture area; A transmission assembly is connected between the wheel body and the cover element and is configured to rotate the cover element relative to the wheel body about a rotational axis of the wheel body when the rotational speed of the wheel body is greater than a predetermined threshold, thereby causing the through opening of the wheel body to transition from an open state in which there is overlap with the aperture area to a closed state in which there is no overlap with the aperture area.
2. The wheel device of claim 1, wherein the transmission assembly comprises: A ball in contact with the opposite faces of the wheel body and the cover member, respectively, and configured to move radially outward of the wheel body when the rotational speed of the wheel body is greater than a predetermined threshold, thereby driving the cover member to rotate in a first direction relative to the wheel body about the rotational axis of the wheel body to seal the through opening; An elastic member connecting the wheel body and the cover element and configured to be compressed when the cover element rotates in a first direction relative to the wheel body about a rotation axis of the wheel body, and to push the cover element to rotate in a second direction opposite to the first direction relative to the wheel body about the rotation axis of the wheel body to open the through opening in order to return to a pre-compression state when a rotation speed of the wheel body is less than or equal to a predetermined threshold.
3. The wheel device of claim 2, wherein: The wheel body forms a first track groove extending from the radial inner part to the radial outer part at the surface opposite to the cover element, the cover element forms a second track groove at the surface opposite to the wheel body, and the projection of the second track groove on the wheel body is intersected with the first track groove and has a preset included angle, so that the first track groove and the second track groove form an accommodating space at the intersection; the balls are disposed in the accommodation space, and when the rotational speed of the wheel body is greater than a predetermined threshold value, the balls move to the radially outer ends of the first track grooves, and the movement of the balls acts on the second track grooves, so that the cover member rotates in the first direction relative to the wheel body about the rotational axis of the wheel body.
4. A wheel arrangement according to claim 3, wherein the first track groove is arranged to extend in a radial direction of the wheel body.
5. A wheel arrangement according to claim 3, wherein the first and second track grooves are provided as at least one corresponding pair.
6. A wheel arrangement according to claim 3, wherein the predetermined included angle varies from 5 ° to 60 °.
7. A wheel apparatus according to claim 3, wherein: A first arc-shaped groove is formed on the wheel body, a second arc-shaped groove is formed on the cover element, and at least a part of the first arc-shaped groove and the second arc-shaped groove overlap in the circumferential direction in the case that the cover element covers the side surface of the wheel body; the two ends of the elastic component are respectively abutted against the first end face of the first arc-shaped groove and the second end face of the second arc-shaped groove, so that the wheel body and the cover element are connected.
8. The wheel device according to claim 5, wherein when the rotational speed of the wheel body is less than or equal to a predetermined threshold value and the balls are held at the radially inner ends of the first track grooves, the elastic force of the elastic member satisfies the following condition: When the balls are located at the radially outer ends of the first track grooves but the rotational speed of the wheel body becomes less than or equal to a predetermined threshold value, the elastic force of the elastic member satisfies the following condition: Where F is the elastic force of the elastic member, m is the mass of the balls, n is the number of balls, ω is the angular velocity of the current rotation of the wheel body, a is the angle between the projection of the current second track groove on the wheel body and the first track groove, r b is the distance from the current position of the balls to the center point of the wheel body, and r s is the distance from the projection of the elastic member on the wheel body to the center point of the wheel body.
9. The wheel device according to claim 1, wherein the aperture areas are arranged in a one-to-one correspondence with the through openings.
10. A vehicle having a wheel arrangement as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 9.
11. A method of controlling a wheel apparatus including a wheel body having a plurality of spokes disposed at predetermined angular intervals and forming through openings therebetween for allowing air to pass therethrough, a cover member rotatably covering a side of the wheel body about a rotational axis of the wheel body with respect to the wheel body and having at least one aperture area, and a transmission assembly connected between the wheel body and the cover member, the method comprising: When the rotational speed of the wheel body is greater than a predetermined threshold, the cover element is rotated relative to the wheel body about the rotational axis of the wheel body with the transmission assembly such that the through opening of the wheel body transitions from an open state in which there is overlap with the aperture area to a blocked state in which there is no overlap with the aperture area.
12. The method of controlling a wheel apparatus of claim 11, wherein the transmission assembly includes balls in contact with opposing faces of the wheel body and the cover element, respectively, and a resilient member connecting the wheel body and the cover element, the method further comprising: When the rotation speed of the wheel body is greater than a predetermined threshold value, the balls are utilized to move to the radial outside of the wheel body, so that the cover element is driven to rotate around the rotation axis of the wheel body relative to the wheel body along a first direction, the through opening is blocked, and the elastic member is compressed; When the rotational speed of the wheel body is less than or equal to a predetermined threshold, the cover member is pushed to rotate about the rotational axis of the wheel body in a second direction opposite to the first direction with respect to the wheel body in order to open the through opening in order to return to the pre-compression state.
13. The method of controlling a wheel apparatus according to claim 11, wherein when the rotational speed of the wheel body is less than or equal to a predetermined threshold value and the balls are held at the radially inner ends of the first track grooves, the elastic force of the elastic member satisfies the following condition: When the balls are located at the radially outer ends of the first track grooves but the rotational speed of the wheel body becomes less than or equal to a predetermined threshold value, the elastic force of the elastic member satisfies the following condition: Where F is the elastic force of the elastic member, m is the mass of the balls, n is the number of balls, ω is the angular velocity of the current rotation of the wheel body, a is the angle between the projection of the current second track groove on the wheel body and the first track groove, r b is the distance from the current position of the balls to the center point of the wheel body, and r s is the distance from the projection of the elastic member on the wheel body to the center point of the wheel body.

Description

Wheel device, vehicle having the same, and method of controlling the same Technical Field The present invention relates to the field of wheel devices, and in particular to a wheel device, a vehicle having the wheel device, and a method of controlling the wheel device. Background Air resistance is an important factor affecting energy consumption of a vehicle, and thus should be reduced as much as possible. The air resistance acting on the vehicle includes not only an upper resistance depending on the vehicle profile but also a lower resistance generated by the wheel portion. Therefore, the air resistance of the wheel portion also needs to be improved, and blocking the air flow between the spokes by using the wheel cover is a common means of reducing the air resistance. Accordingly, most of the environment-friendly vehicles such as the electric vehicle (ELECTRIC VEHICLE, EV) currently use wheel covers in order to save energy consumption. However, the braking system of the vehicle generates a large amount of heat during braking, and the wheel cover having less openings will limit the ventilation condition of the wheel braking system, thereby affecting the heat radiation performance of the brake disc, which may cause a braking failure accident. That is, the aerodynamic performance of the vehicle wheel requires that the air flow between the spokes be reduced as much as possible, while the braking heat requires that the air flow between the spokes be increased as much as possible. It is therefore desirable to provide a wheel assembly in which air flow between spokes can be switched between an open condition and a closed condition, a vehicle having such a wheel assembly, and a method of controlling such a wheel assembly. The above description of the background is only for the purpose of facilitating a thorough understanding of the present invention's aspects (in terms of the means of technology used, the technical problems solved, and the technical effects produced, etc.) and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this message constitutes prior art that is already known to a person skilled in the art. Disclosure of Invention The object of the present invention is to provide a wheel device in which the air flow between spokes can be switched between an open state and a closed state, a vehicle having the wheel device, and a method of controlling the wheel device. According to one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a wheel apparatus including a wheel body having a plurality of spokes disposed at predetermined angular intervals with through openings formed between the adjacent spokes to allow air to pass therethrough, a cover member rotatably covering a side face of the wheel body with respect to the wheel body about a rotation axis of the wheel body and having at least one orifice area, and a transmission assembly connected between the wheel body and the cover member and configured to rotate the cover member with respect to the wheel body about the rotation axis of the wheel body when the rotation speed of the wheel body is greater than a predetermined threshold value, such that the through openings of the wheel body are converted from an open state where there is overlap with the orifice area to a blocking state where there is no overlap with the orifice area. The transmission assembly may include balls in contact with opposite faces of the wheel body and the cover member, respectively, and configured to move radially outward of the wheel body to rotate the cover member about a rotational axis of the wheel body in a first direction relative to the wheel body to seal the through opening when the rotational speed of the wheel body is greater than a predetermined threshold, and a resilient member connecting the wheel body and the cover member and configured to be compressed when the cover member rotates about the rotational axis of the wheel body in the first direction relative to the wheel body and to urge the cover member to rotate about the rotational axis of the wheel body in a second direction opposite to the first direction relative to the wheel body to open the through opening to return to a pre-compression state when the rotational speed of the wheel body is less than or equal to the predetermined threshold. The wheel body may form a first rail groove extending from a radially inner portion to a radially outer portion at a face opposite to the cover member, the cover member may form a second rail groove at a face opposite to the wheel body, and a projection of the second rail groove on the wheel body intersects the first rail groove and has a preset angle such that the first rail groove and the second rail groove form an accommodation space at the intersection, and the balls may be disposed in the accommodation space, and when a rotational speed of the wheel body is greater than a predetermined threshold value, the balls move to a radially outer end of the f